Within the area of bottled drinks mentioned above, there are different structural solutions for the sealing of bottles, which in the best cases are aimed at achieving a “sealing” effect, preventing filling or refilling a bottle of a certain brand with a lower quality beverage, which consumers usually refer to as “pulling a switch.” This type of cap ensures that the product contained in the bottle really corresponds to the brand name identifying the bottle.
However, within the area of alcoholic beverages there is a totally different problem, especially on the domestic level, although it also occurs in other areas; children and youths have direct access to highly alcoholic beverages, through the bar in their own homes, a problem that to date can only be avoided by keeping alcoholic beverages under lock and key, which is unusual.
It is also relatively frequent that, due to ignorance or for other reasons, a high-quality alcoholic beverage may be unduly used as a condiment in a cooking recipe in which its presence is not even remotely justified.
It is also relatively frequent that in certain public establishments, a customer may reserve a bottle of an certain drink, for his or her particular and sole use, but the current caps for bottles do not give the customer any guarantee that the contents of the bottle cannot be consumed by third parties, or even that the bottle cannot be refilled with a similar product of lesser quality.
In other cases, the issue may be dangerous products, such as for instance certain cleaning products, like bleach, which if ingested may cause serious health problems, particularly in children and the mentally handicapped, who may ingest these products thinking that they are something else.
The applicant has no knowledge of there being any type of cap that allows the selecting of a person or people who may open the corresponding bottle, that is to say, preventing the removal of the contents of the bottle by unauthorised people. There are caps intended to prevent children from having access to dangerous products, but they are based on complicated operations for opening the cap, which often turn out to be difficult even for adults, and which in any case fail to solve the problem of unauthorised people being able to have access to the bottle.